"What if—whoosh, right now, with no
explanation—a number of us simply vanished?
Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front
of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down? That’s what the
bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and
lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because
nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not
even the relationships between parents and children. Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to
speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his
traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the
disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown
cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping
out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne. Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill,
remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be. Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted
by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family
on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to
move beyond it and make a new start. With heart, intelligence and a rare
ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta
has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and
loss..”
